Motor Industry News

The DVLA warned motorists to be on the lookout for stolen vehicle registration certificates when buying a used car. Descriptions of the stolen documents known to be in circulation have been issued.

Therefore, motorists who are actively looking to buy a car are urged to check the serial number that appears at top right hand corner of the registration certificate.

If it bears the prefix BG and falls within the range BG 9167501 to BG 9190500, they are advised not to purchase the vehicle.

Indications are that some of these stolen documents are in circulation. These V5C certificates are accompanying stolen vehicles that have had their identity changed to match that of a legitimate vehicle.

This practice is known as cloning. The cloned vehicles are sold on to unsuspecting members of the public who suffer significant losses when their vehicles are confiscated by the police.

These certificates have a different background colour on the Notification of Permanent Export (V5C/4) tear off slip on the second page, which looks mauve on the front and pink on the reverse. On legitimate documents they should be mauve on both sides.

If members of the public want to check whether a certificate is genuine, prior to the purchase of a vehicle, they should ring DVLA's helplines on 0870 241 1878. Or call mycarcheck.com on 0870 118 1630 for information regarding vehicle history.